Pope Benedict XVI refused to meet US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in August, saying he was on holiday, an Italian newspaper reported Wednesday. Rice "made it known to the Vatican that she absolutely had to meet the pope" to boost her diplomatic "credit" ahead of a trip to the Middle East, the Corriere della Sera daily reported without citing its sources. She was hoping to meet the pontiff at his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo at the beginning of August, it said. "'The pope is on holiday' was the official response," the paper said. It said the reply "illustrated the divergence of view" between the Vatican and the White House about the "initiatives of the Bush administration in the Middle East."
A conservative German politician on Wednesday proposed making marriage contracts expire after seven years, with the option to renew for those not feeling the proverbial itch. "I propose that marriages lapse after 7 years," Gabriele Pauli (divorced twice) told reporters in Munich, the capital of the largely Catholic southern state of Bavaria. "This would mean that one will only commit for a fixed period and will actively have to renew your vows if you still want to continue." The proposal is part of her manifesto as she prepares to contest the leadership of Bavaria's governing party, the ultra-conservative Christian Social Union, next week.
Germany's reaction was unusually critical of the proposals. German economy minister Michael Glos (CSU) said "the high quality and security of German electrical power networks should not be put in danger. The package is all in all too bureaucratic and leads to a high regulatory burden." Germany "strictly rejects" ownership unbundling, he said, adding that he is "very sceptical whether through the focus of the commission on ownership unbundling, a way for more competition is found."
President Sarkozy, trying to overhaul labor markets, pensions and the tax system, promised Wednesday a "revolution" within the state itself. The president's message was 2-fold: In the global economy of the 21st century, a strong French state is as important as ever - but it will have to be a more nimble institution that minimizes abuse and gives taxpayers value for money. "What I am proposing to you is a cultural revolution, a revolution to change mentalities. What I am proposing is a better new pact that I want to conclude with civil servants and with citizens."
(UPI: Super-Sarko's overreach)
The Flemings and the Walloons share a country, but they are divided over almost everything else. The long-standing conflict has now begun to threaten Belgian unity, with the Flemish north calling for greater independence from Brussels.
Let me warn the Prime Minister of another crisis on the horizon; a problem that is more pregnant with risk for this country than any collapse of the housing market. Belgium is the place that Gordon should be watching: because it is now on the verge of a tragic disintegration.
It is a superb and suggestive irony that the people of Europe are now being forced to accept a new constitutional document intended to unify 25 different polities, and yet the desire for national self-government is so strong that Belgium itself - the very country that plays host to the EU institutions - is in danger of breaking up.
If Belgium splits up, that fissure will not only make a mockery of Belgium's central role in the cause of European integration. It will be a huge boost to Europe's remaining separatist movements. If the Belgian creation of 1830 is capable of falling apart, why should we expect the union of 1707 to be imperishable?
[WAR: As goes Belgium, so goes the EU...]
Russia's Foreign Minister warned that a unilateral declaration of independence by the disputed Serbian province of Kosovo would trigger a "chain reaction" of instability in Europe. "I don't see how a unilateral declaration of independence for Kosovo can stabilize the situation in Europe. Rather, it will trigger a chain reaction in different parts'' of the continent and the world.
Several ministers express outrage at Israeli vice premier's letter proposing ceding parts of Jerusalem to Palestinian Authority.
Hours before Secretary of State Rice landed here Wednesday for talks on peace, Israel tried to ratchet up the pressure on Hamas by declaring Gaza "hostile territory," opening the way for further restrictions on the supply of vital goods like electricity and gasoline.
(Reuters: Gaza on war footing)
Binyamin Netanyahu has made the first apparent admission of Israel's involvement in an alleged air strike against Syria. In a live interview on Israeli TV, he said he had congratulated Prime Minister Olmert on the raid. "I was a partner in the issue from the start, and I gave my backing."
Secretary of State Rice is holding fresh talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on convening a Middle East peace conference. The discussions are expected to focus on the summit, which is planned for November, as it is not clear what the agenda will be or who will attend.
Mercenaries have become indispensable in Iraq. But after Blackwater employees killed 11 civilians on Sunday, the government in Baghdad wants them out. The problem is, private security companies operate above the law - and the US wants to keep it that way.
Of course...
President Bush condemned the murder of a pro-Lebanese government lawmaker who was killed in an explosion in Beirut on Wednesday. Bush hinted that Syria and Iran were responsible for the attack, promising that the US would continue to stand behind Lebanon and support its opposition to Syrian and Iranian efforts to destabilize the country.
Egypt's Foreign Minister said Wednesday that his country sought to normalize diplomatic relations with Iran through "constructive consultations."
Supporters of the Zionist regime will receive their response during the world Qods Day's rallies, an Iranian government spokesman said. "Supporters of the Zionist regime will definitely receive the final response for their support on that day." Qods Day is held each year on the last Friday of Ramadan.
Why the difference in dates?...
The International Qods Day will be observed on the 23rd day of the holy month of Ramadan (Friday, October 5). The International Qods Day is observed in all Islamic nations to demonstrate the support of Muslims worldwide for the Palestinian people suffering from occupation and hardship. Millions of people take to streets on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan calling for an end to occupation of Palestinian territories.
President Ahmadinejad has accepted an offer to speak next week at Columbia's World Leaders Forum. "Opportunities to hear, challenge, and learn from controversial speakers of different views are central to the education and training of students for citizenship in a shrinking and still dangerous world."
Two fighter planes from the Azarakhsh (Thunder) fighter generation were successfully tested. The fighter planes, named Sa'qeh (Thunderbolt), are the second type of Azarakhsh fighters.
Most Americans visiting Yahoo.com to check their e mail and read about the latest Britney Spears mindlessness would have seen this headline and immediately had their brainwashed pre-conceptions re-affirmed. In reality, if they had actually read the first paragraph of the article ("Iran draws up plans to bomb Israel"), which 99% probably didn't, it would become clear that the establishment war-whores are merely up to their usual tricks. How dare Iran plan to defend themselves! They should sit there in absolute submission while Israel rains down 400 nukes and pummels them back into the stone age.
France's foreign minister strongly defended his sharp stance on Iran on Wednesday, saying that his remarks that the world had to prepare for a possible war against Iran had been misinterpreted and that he was a man of peace. "I said, 'The worst, it is war' ... this is not what I want. I did not say, 'The best, it's war.' I did not say, 'My choice, it's war.' I said, 'The worst.'"
True!...
Jimmy Carter said Wednesday that it was almost inconceivable that Iran would "commit suicide" by launching missiles at Israel. "Iran is quite distant from Israel. I think it would be almost inconceivable that Iran would commit suicide by launching one or two missiles of any kind against the nation of Israel."
A string of articles have appeared in the US press over the past week reporting on the Iranian shelling of border areas inside the Kurdish north of Iraq since August. The sudden interest in this remote, mountainous region has nothing to do with concern for the plight of local Kurds. It is another element of the anti-Iranian propaganda campaign being cranked up by the Bush administration and media.Once again, the Kurds are being manipulated by US imperialism, with the complicity of the thoroughly venal Kurdish leaderships, to advance its strategic and economic interests in the Middle East.
Despite holding out a military option, ratcheting up tensions with Iran about meddling in Iraq and Afghanistan, and deploying carrier strike-force groups in the Persian Gulf, the president is not planning to bomb Iran. But there are several not-unrelated scenarios under which it might happen, if the neocon wing of the party, led by Vice President Cheney, succeeds in reasserting itself, or if there is some kind of "accidental," perhaps contrived, confrontation.
Hmmm...
Russian Military Intelligence Analysts are reporting today that one of the United States' most secretive spy satellites, the KH-13, targeting Iran was 'destroyed in its orbit' with its main power generator powered by the radioactive isotope Pu-238 surviving re-entry and crashing in a remote region of the South American Nation of Peru, and where hundreds are reported to be ill from radiation poisoning. Western media reports are stating that the US spy satellite debris hitting Peru was caused by a meteor, but which, according to these reports, would be 'impossible' as the size of 30-meter crater, if caused by a meteorite, would have hit the ground with about as much energy as 1 kiloton tactical nuclear weapon, and which would have been recorded by the seismic stations around the World.
Most astonishing about these reports, however, are that they state that it was the Americans themselves who destroyed their own spy satellite with the attack upon it being made by the US Air Forces' 30th Space Wing. This incident further fuels the intrigue involving the US War Leaders plans to attack Iran in their attempt to engulf the entire Middle East in Total War, but, against which, according to Russian Military Intelligence Analysts, a 'high ranking and significant' faction of the American Military Establishment is opposed to.
You don't have to be pro-life to marvel at the breadth and depth of the betrayal that Bush has delivered to his base on the "religious right." Even from a distance, it is as revolting as it is revealing. While Bush worries about his legacy, Cheney and the neocons have firmly taken the helm and, in their dictatorial bent, now feel comfortable enough to jettison the useful idiots who propelled them to power.
Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signalling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East. "This is a very dangerous situation for the dollar." "If Ben Bernanke starts running those printing presses even faster than he's already doing, we are going to have a serious recession. The dollar's going to collapse, the bond market's going to collapse. There's going to be a lot of problems."
The Fed's decision to cut interest rates again is likely to send the dollar tumbling to historic new lows, leading one financial analyst to predict that China's fury at the devaluation of its huge dollar reserves will provoke them into giving the US government a terse ultimatum - let us invade Taiwan unopposed or we'll dump the dollar and bring about economic chaos.
Spot gold rose more than one percent to hit a 28-year high at $730.20 an ounce on Thursday on safe-haven buying and a slide in the dollar to record lows against the euro.
While a half-percentage-point cut in the federal funds rate sent Wall Street soaring Tuesday, and had a lesser but still positive impact on stock trading Wednesday, there is growing evidence that the move by the Federal Reserve Board can have only a short-term effect, and that the unraveling of financial markets under the impact of the home mortgage collapse will continue. The creation and manipulation of debt, rather than the production and sale of goods, has become the principal driving force of American capitalism. The Federal Reserve action, rather than curbing the addiction to debt, has given a new fix to the addict, one which could well produce catastrophic consequences, sooner rather than later.
An economist who has long predicted this decade's housing market bubble would deflate said the residential real estate downturn could spiral into "the most severe since the Great Depression."
The Bank of England on Wednesday abruptly reversed its policy of refusing to ease lending standards, offering to inject cash into British money markets amid criticism that it had not done enough to stem a credit crunch that has undercut one of Europe's largest economies.
So, who has Ron Paul actually been debating all this time? Well, it hasn't been his Republican opponents. Dr. Paul has been debating (very successfully) his, and America's, most evil nemesis – Franken-Fed, the economic undead, financial adviser to Satan, destroyer of the middle-class, hypnotizer of politicians, godfather of the mass-media, master of the inflationary universe, promoter of social decay, purveyor of paper-or-plastic, and history's most gifted warmonger.
Alan Greenspan has come back from the tomb of history to correct the record. But check the record. These are all lies. Welcome to the world of slippery truth Greenspan has always lived in.
Antiperspirants work by clogging, closing, or blocking the pores that release sweat under your arms -- with the active ingredient being aluminum. Not only does this block one of your body's routes for detoxification (releasing toxins via your underarm sweat), but it raises concerns about where these heavy metals are going once you roll them (or spray them) on.
There are plenty of bloggers who use their electronic soapbox to offer insightful commentary about the world. Blogs also provide a sense of community, a digital campfire around which those with similar passions can gather and interact. That's a wonderful thing in a culture this lonely.
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